This is the club’s seventh year in existence, and with the help of a very busy committee, we continue to go from strength to strength. I would like to highlight some points from the club’s activities in the past year:
1. Winter League
Our winter league is very popular this year with over 130 runners registered in total and an average of between 75 and 95 runners taking part each week. Our format this year is different with a ten week block of Tuesdays before Christmas and this has worked out well. One drawback is that we have to pay a €50 permit each night but many thanks to Super Valu for their continued support and to Kildalton College for the use of their grounds.
2. Fit for Life
Again, it is proving difficult to get numbers but in the new year, we shall have James Sullivan giving some technique tips so hopefully new members will stay with it and join the club and get the benefits from it. Thanks to all who helped out on the runs this year which worked well as we travelled a lot. Thanks to Catherine and Susan in particular for all their help with this.
3. Website
Without doubt, our website has improved immensely and for this we have to thank Tom Egan. The calendar of events is a great help to all our runners but the big winner is having the Winter League results up on the following day. This keeps everybody’s interest and helps keep the numbers up. All information regarding the club can be found on the website within hours of decisions being made. Once again, many thanks to Tom for all his help during the year.
4. Facebook
Our facebook page is proving very popular with lots of news, runs and pictures on it. It also works well in conjunction with the website. For all this, we have to thank Brian Nugent for all his work during the year.
5. ‘My Dress’ One Mile Challenge
This event held its own in terms of numbers this year and many thanks to those who helped out each evening. A special thanks also to our sponsor ‘My Dress’.
6. Flag Day
Over €1,000 was raised this year so well done to all who helped out. However, there was a disappointing response from club members on the day – only three to four club members helped out in addition to the club committee, and more help from members is needed here.
7. Goal Mile
Our goal mile is getting more popular each Christmas, with large numbers turning out to walk, run or jog the one mile. Over €8,000 was raised last year and this was a terrific effort on everyone’s part. This year, the Garda Siochana have refused to grant a permit for Christmas Eve and instead have given us one for the Saturday 22nd December. Hopefully, this will not affect the donations. Many thanks to Mags Power and her family for their continuing organisation of this event, and thanks also to those who do the collections over the two days.
8. Summer Series
This continues to go from strength to strength with record numbers in three of the four races in 2012. The Waterford Marathon did affect numbers for the Deadmans 5 but thankfully, we have moved to a new date which does not clash with this marathon next year. The biggest disappointment for the year was the losing of the running of the Tom Kiely 5K in Ballyneale in 2013 – for various reasons, the committee felt that it could not meet the demands of the organiser of this race. We were very disappointed with this outcome as we were very much to the fore in establishing this race as one of the top 5K races in the south east, including increasing its entry numbers almost fivefold to almost 250 runners in 2012. However, the club has decided to move on, and as of tonight, we can proudly announce that our summer series in 2013 will be a five race series – we welcome the Portlaw ‘Tom Jordan’ 5 miler into the series and thank the Red Cross for their support in entering the series which will benefit everybody. In addition, we are adding a Faugheen 5K on April 26th 2013 – we are really looking forward to this and look forward to the support of club members and the Faugheen community to help make this race a success and hopefully an annual event. In these tough economic times, getting sponsorship can be difficult so many thanks to our series sponsor Outfield Sports / Asics, and to our race sponsors Morris Oil, Carraig Hotel, and Autopower. We look forward to working with them again in 2012. A big thank you also to all of the series sub-committee who worked hard to ensure the series ran smoothly – without your help, this would not be possible.
9. Running Success
Congratulations to all our runners who ran and represented the club throughout the country in various races from 5 km to marathons in 2012. To mention a few by name, I would like to congratulate Tommy Falconer on becoming Novice B chamption. Patrick Roche for victory in the Novice B cross country, Brian Murphy for winning the first Waterford Marathon, Clare Annan winning gold at the County Novice, and Martina O’Dwyer for winning the Over-35 section of the County Master road race.
10.Objectives for 2013
We need to continue to promote the Winter League, Fit for Life and one Mile Challenge events. We also wish to strengthen our Summer Series now that we have a five race series and to make sure that Faugheen is a great success. Hopefully our sponsors will stay on board with us next year. We also need to get more people involved in helping out and stewarding events within the club – people have got to realise that a lot of work is involved in organising events. Finally, we need to get new faces on the club committee next year to help to generate new ideas.
Finally, as this is my last duty as chairman of the club, I would like to thank all who helped me out during this time especially Catherine, Mark, and Susan. Your help was greatly appreciated. Thanks again to all.
James Fox, Club Chairman